Severe Storms to Rattle Chicago, Oklahoma City Monday

A cold front advancing across the central United States will bring the threat of severe weather from Wisconsin to Texas on Monday.

A line of thunderstorms is expected to develop along the front, stretching across a swath of the nation's midsection more than 1,000 miles long.

Breaking: Storms Clobber Minneapolis

Chicago, Peoria and Springfield, Illinois; Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay, Wisconsin; Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Kansas City; Topeka and Wichita, Kansas; Amarillo, Texas; and Oklahoma City are just a handful of cities that may get hit with severe thunderstorms on Monday afternoon or Monday night.

"The greatest threats from the storms on Monday will be damaging wind gusts and flash flooding," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

An isolated tornado or two cannot be ruled out with the strongest storms, but are likely to be short-lived and not be strong enough to produce significant damage over a large area.

Sosnowski warned that people spending time outdoors across this section of the country should keep an eye out for rapidly changing weather conditions.

Even if a storm is not producing any severe weather, you should still seek shelter to stay protected from lightning.

The threat for severe weather will continue into Tuesday as the cold front progresses eastward into the Ohio Valley.

However, Tuesday's storms are not expected to be as intense as those on Monday afternoon.

Some heavy storms are also expected to linger back over part of the southern Plains on Tuesday, continuing the threat of localized flooding from Missouri to the Texas Panhandle.

View the latest watches and warnings at the AccuWeather Severe Weather Center and keep up to date with breaking weather information on Twitter with @BreakingWeather.